I have learned this from my observations of games. Let me see what I can remember...

1) Make effects for every action so the game's more entertaining. What I mean is give feedback for every action. For every action; choosing between menus, confirming choices, attacking someone etc... have a sound and image effect. Otherwise it's like a text game with graphics. Like in my game when someone does a punch, the graphic shows the character punch, then the opponent moves back and there is the sound of punch with an image effect like an overlay over the enemy. For choosing and using techniques, there are also effects; in which case they are only sound effects in addition to the menus changing.

2) Make the game engaging. You can't make it so that in the game you keep mashing the same button. Whatever that button is; X, A, enter etc... It's just not good game design. If it's a turn-based game, make it so that you have to use more than one attack, even if there is an attack that you use most frequently. In my game, you use a punch the most which is Q, but you must also keep constantly moving around so it's WASD buttons. You can't win if you don't use a special attack unless you made yourself much stronger than the enemy, so you must use E for special attack. Each special attack has a cooldown so if you can't finish off someone with just regular punches and one special attack, you must use arrow keys to switch special attacks and use others. In some cases, you must fight longer and use some attacks several times after having them cooldown in order to win.

I will keep updating this article as I keep learning about video games.

About

About: This is a blog about game design and development by me. I am an amateur game designer/developer and I want to write here as I go on the journey of learning about game development and game design. I do this because I want to share with the world what I've learned and keep a record of my progress as well as know notes.

Right now I am concentrating on RPG games. I am thinking in going after board games later.